Flight Rising Discussion

[center][size=6]{Gene Lore} Share some lore possibilities for dragons with Filigree![/size] Buffer Prompt[/center] All over Sornieth dragons show of their majestic jewelry, trying to one up each other in color and size. From an elegant black, to shiny gold and soothing white accessories, Filigree took up on popularity and many dragons follow this new trend. A few weeks ago the most recent tertiary gene Filigree was added to the game, opening up thousands of new possibilities of dressing and designing elegant and majestic dragons! What kind of meaning does your dragons’ Filigree have for them, their friends, mates or their clan? Does it even have an impact on their daily life? Does the pattern of Filigree reveal something about your dragon, or does it follow a more random nature? Do the jewels embedded into this jewelry have any kind of meaning in your opinion? Is Filigree even jewelry, or is it part of a dragon’s natural coat pattern? Please share your thoughts on this matter! Maybe some amazing theories finally will have their time to shine with this prompt as a starting point, so we encourage you to tell us about them and see what other users think of them. [center][item="Tertiary Gene: Filigree"] {*}[/center] [size=4][u][b]Some Thoughts:[/b][/u][/size] With the embedded pearls in the Filigree gene, I immediately think of Pearlcatchers. As most Pearlcatchers carry their pearl with bare hands, put it inside a pouch to wear, or anything similar, now they also could work their pearl into Filigree! It would need to be easy to remove in case the Pearlcatcher wants to add another layer to the pearl, but I think with magic at hand and a handy goldsmith near them, that shouldn’t be a problem. In my own lair, I don’t yet have a dragon with Filigree, as I don’t think it would fit into my lore or aesthetic. I feel like it indicates some kind of royalty or at least higher position in dragon society, and depending on the colors of the worn Filigree there also would be a distinction between Filigree dragons as well. Maybe Filigree is used as a way to honor someone in a dragon's life they want to honor. Maybe a dragon lost its mate. To mourn and to pay respect, they buy themselves a piece of Filigree in colors relating to their mate. This way they will never forget about them. You could go even as far as storing something of theirs in a see-through pearl, like a piece of their clothes/horns/fur or something similar. Magicians and Oracles could use those pearls in one of their magical practices, or as some kind of charm shielding them from evil. My train of thought lead me to even more esoteric uses of Filigree. With that I mean: Filigree pieces that apparently emit positive vibes, or surround the dragon with an aura of happiness and safety. These possibilities could give some dragons a chance to build up businesses surrounding esoteric Filigree jewelry pieces, like shops selling charms and magically streaked Filigree and so on. [center][size=2] Pinglist was here. [/size][/center]

I don't have any dragons with Filigree just yet, but I like to see it as a gene that started out as a simple magical enhancement, something that mages used to better channel their power.
It wasn't even a gene at first as much as it was an augmentation, but it took on an additional level of beauty and became popular as just a fashion statement. Bodily augmentation is nothing new for most dragons, and embedding metal and jewels into your skin moved slowly from becoming a practical tool to a simple aesthetic choice fairly quickly.

While for many dragons it's just an individual cosmetic enhancement, those who use it to enhance magical prowess can often pass these augments down through their lineage, their magic having bonded the pieces to them as if it were their own flesh. It is a rare genetic trait and hatchlings with this gene often show signs of being incredibly powerful mages, or at least show they come from a fairly powerful linage.

These augments become a status symbol for many dragons, either that you can afford such lavish style or that you have a formidable amount of magical power and should not be trifled with. The more popular the trend becomes, the harder it is to tell the difference between the two.

[center]This is a scry of my plans for a gen one that I hatched for Starfall last year. In my lore (that I haven't written down yet, of course), this little girl is going to be found by my clan leaders, who are completely taken aback by her appearance and by the fact that she's not growing. [img]http://flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=0&body=74&bodygene=15&breed=12&element=9&gender=1&tert=142&tertgene=21&winggene=20&wings=66&auth=306af4a0acb4ad14d1a4436a8957130ecadf0507&dummyext=prev.png[/img] I haven't quite decided what filigree means though. Is it a curse, like a muzzle/restraints that she can't remove (for the safety of herself or others), or perhaps a disease that has kept her forever young? Maybe it's simply jewelry or tattoos, or maybe the hatchling has powers that are stored in the filigree pattern or the accent pearls. I have my eyes on another dragon with filigree that I saw in a hatchery, but I can't afford them yet, so I'm waiting for the next nest. This dragon's version of filigree will definitely be tied to their magical powers as some sort of forest nymph. It's a really cool gene that's hard to work with unless you have specific plans - I wish it were a little different (bigger on the wings perhaps), but otherwise I like it.

I see Filigree as a gene meant to fit dragons from royalty or other elegant lifestyles as a form of marking indicating them as such. Although it can develop over time, this gene indicates the wealthy dragons of Sornieth as they become wealthy -- some dragons are born with the Filigree gene, but other dragons become rich and develop the gene later in life. Most dragons proudly display their economic status through the markings of the gene, whilst some hide the markings since their riches are artificial and not real and others are too embarrassed to admit that they have a hoard of treasure.

I don't have any dragons with this gene in my lair (especially since elegance isn't necessarily a part of my lair's lore), but it's still a beautiful gene nonetheless!

I think filigree, opal, crystal, and facet are all mutant strains of Gembond retrovirus (i don't pretend to understand molecular biology but i think that's the right word for "virus that writes itself into the host's DNA")

Filigree is definitely my favorite tertiary gene and I was so excited when it came out!! I'll admit I'm not very good at coming up with lore stuff, but I do personally think of Filigree as being jewellery.

When it comes to the stones, I kind of find them reminiscent of Skydancers' forehead jewels! It would be really neat if they had similar properties and functioned to amplify the natural powers of a Skydancer with Filigree, or to give a semblance of their power to another breed with Filigree!!

I like to categorize Filigree as being in the "unnatural" gene categories like Gembond, Circuit (kinda) Cryface and Opal. Mostly because of how "shiny" looking and handmade it looks, does that make sense?

I like to think that because of this, Filigree is a gene that was discovered as a mutation and has a very rare chance of being passed onto offspring. It was given to the first generation of filigree dragons through artificial scrolling. Overall, the patterns and the colors of Filigree don't contribute anything to the dragon, because the colors all depend on the dragon who the gene was inherited from.

[quote=@SgtCredo]With the embedded pearls in the Filigree gene, I immediately think of Pearlcatchers. As most Pearlcatchers carry their pearl with bare hands, put it inside a pouch to wear, or anything similar, now they also could work their pearl into Filigree! It would need to be easy to remove in case the Pearlcatcher wants to add another layer to the pearl, [u]but I think with magic at hand and a handy goldsmith near them, that shouldn’t be a problem. [/u][/quote] Dude, that doesn't sound like magic work that just sounds like straight up body / face piercings. [LIST] [*][url]https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/91/e3/f9/91e3f9afe847acdd1583400d1dfde914.jpg[/url] [*][url]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/25/77/e8/2577e8486c7cc04ebf783afc10755f1c.jpg[/url] [*][url]http://www.justpiercings.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Fantastic-Septum-Piercing-JP114.jpg[/url] [*][url]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c7/2d/51/c72d5127ffe27ec36450cc826a696505.jpg[/url] [/LIST] We do canonically have tattoos now so like this seems to fit perfectly. Damn, Filigree just jumped like 50 ranks of coolness for me. This is baller! What if Filigree was just an enchanted jewelry set to get rid of a dragon's Tertiary gene / expose one's "true colors". You put on the piercings all over your body and it sucks the gene slowly out of you like some sort of vampire. This is why it'd come in so many different colors. (an example for one of my perma dragon) [img]http://flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=10&bodygene=18&breed=5&element=5&gender=0&tert=29&tertgene=4&winggene=1&wings=30&auth=578b3ddca547f92d37c104376cefc029d1ca2068&dummyext=prev.png[/img] [img]http://flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=10&bodygene=18&breed=5&element=5&gender=0&tert=29&tertgene=21&winggene=1&wings=30&auth=568c4156b76a20a938837258bee75eab2b79ddf5&dummyext=prev.png[/img] It could be used as a way to get rid of "birth scars" or "poison" in a dragon's body, and [i]that's[/i] why it's so expensive in game aka in the gem market place. It's primarily used by cosmetic doctors / Plastic surgeons. [i]"Plastic surgery is defined as a surgical specialty dedicated to reconstruction of facial and body defects due to birth disorders, trauma, burns, and disease. Plastic surgery is intended to correct dysfunctional areas of the body and is reconstructive in nature." [/i] [quote name="@StarlitFire" date="2018-05-03 09:42:06" ] I see Filigree as a gene meant to fit dragons from royalty or other elegant lifestyles as a form of marking indicating them as such. [/quote] And then rich people started to abuse it just like our plastic surgery and thats why you see it everywhere now! idk just thinking… but this is cool to think about.

[center][size=6]Announcements[/size][/center] Before we get to today’s prompt, I have a few announcements to make. Let’s get the less-than-happy stuff out of the way first. [LIST] [*]I would like to expand upon the [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/frd/2406780/25#post_32972422]mid-prompt announcement[/url] by requesting you all to not imply or state someone else’s idea or wording is “wrong,” even if they take certain liberties with canon. The goal of this thread is to build upon each other’s ideas and discuss lore in a peaceful environment where criticism is constructive and worded kindly. People are encouraged to share their ideas, even if they dip well into headcanon territory, and even if they go in a direction you may not find personally tasteful or interesting. As long as the headcanons are fundamentally harmless, they’re fair game to share and discuss. [*]A certain user has informed me multiple times that they have been removed from the pinglist against their wishes. I had hoped it would be an isolated incident when it was first mentioned, but since it has been persistent, I would like make it clear that the self-editing pinglist is so people can add and remove their own username [i]only.[/i] Please don’t add or remove other people without their explicit permission. I would hate to have to take the self-editing pinglist away, but if this keeps happening, my volunteers and I may be forced to do things the old-fashioned way. [/LIST] On a more positive note, let’s talk about gene prompts! Believe it or not, we haven’t gotten any submissions for them yet, and they’re about to run out! So please, if you have any idea for prompts that relate to specific genes or genes in general, submit them to me or any of the Lorenieth volunteers to add them to our roster! :D We’d also be quite excited to see prompts from any category, though, so don’t shy away from sharing those as well! Last -- but certainly not least -- I’d like to give special thanks to Lorenieth’s volunteers for helping me out with a mid-prompt announcement and the previous lore prompt. I was in a bad place at the time and you guys stepped up to the challenge like champions. Thank you so much! You’re all the best! :D [center][size=6]{*} {Gene Lore} Share some lore possibilities for dragons with Python and Morph![/size] Breaking News Prompt[/center] Python and Morph! When the Coliseum revamp was announced, these two serpentine genes were slated to come with it. It's been a few months since the release of the new Coli, but now the genes are finally here to capture our imagination. Which -- of course -- means it’s time to speculate on some lore possibilities for them! They’re the first genes to be obtained through the Coliseum, but what does this mean in a lore sense? Do the markings contribute anything specific to a dragon’s personality or abilities? Might these genes contribute to better camouflage in certain environments the way their inspired pattern does on some real-world snakes? If so, which environments? And -- like some other real-world snakes -- may Python and Morph with bright and/or contrasting colors make a dragon appear venomous? Let’s get creative, build ideas off one another, show off some cool scries, and rejoice in Python and Morph being delivered at last! [center][item="Primary Gene: Python"][item="Secondary Gene: Morph"] {*}[/center] [size=4][u][b]Some Thoughts:[/b][/u][/size] The fact that these are Coliseum genes make them interesting to consider how they’re acquired in a lore sense. Taking game mechanics into consideration, I headcanon that dragons who earn these genes are “taking them” from familiars somehow. I’m not sure how well that would work for non-sapient familiars, but I personally think it would be interesting if their gene scrolls were discovered by the Beastclans before dragonkind. Perhaps the Beastclans figured they could make dragons more powerful and/or better-camouflaged on the battlefield, and thus they’re trying to take them out of circulation [s]which may also be a fun lore explanation for why Eliminates are so rare, but I digress[/s]. Of course, if a lucky dragon takes such a beastclan down first, they could make off with one of these scrolls, use it, and then pass the gene on to their offspring.... Back to camouflage: I think XXX or XXY dragons with Python and Morph can adapt to just about any environment depending on their colors! I’m sure there are some PyMorph dragons that are camouflaged for more “natural” environments (like sand, water, or leaf litter) similar to real-world snakes: [center][img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/67/4c/7b/674c7bf8a2ba997a20eac491ca5c22ef.jpg[/img] [size=2](This gaboon viper snake, for instance! :D)[/size][/center] ...But I don’t think more wild environments should be left out! Imagine: deep purple PyMorph dragons with blue-white opal camouflaged for Wispwillow Grove; flesh-colored PyMorph dragons with creeping tendrils of mucus-green crackle camouflaged for Rotrock Rim; light pink PyMorph dragons camouflaged for the Crystalspine Reaches; and so much more! Additionally, I definitely believe other dragons with bright and/or contrasting Python and Morph will appear venomous! Take a look at a [url=http://flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=130&bodygene=23&breed=11&element=5&gender=1&tert=31&tertgene=0&winggene=23&wings=130&auth=a60b3f51739266b3b27859cec58708d5f73445d2&dummyext=prev.png]double Radioactive Python and Morph dragon[/url], for instance. While I don’t personally think all Python and Morph dragons would be legitimately venomous with colors like these, perhaps coloration like this could be used as a scare tactic against other dragons or Beastclans. I’m so excited to see what everyone comes up with! :D I’ve been waiting for these genes ever since I joined the website and I can’t wait to read through any cool ideas or headcanons you guys have to share! [center][size=2]Pinglist was here.[/size][/center]

I too would think that they came for survival.I think it would help dragons sneak up on unsuspecting prey if they're the same color as the habitat and well hid by the environment. It could also be used by smaller dragons to avoid being consumed by predators or even other unfriendly dragons. Now I'm no expert on the game's dragon's evolution but maybe, just maybe this gene could also show a possible ancestor the dragons evolved from? A dormant trait that now is showing up again among today's dragons after believed to have been gone for a long time.